


Sometimes quiet is violent

by CommeCiCommeCa



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Keith can't sleep, M/M, Sleep troubles, lance is his teddy bear, shiro is an annoying big brother
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-18
Updated: 2018-08-18
Packaged: 2019-06-29 05:24:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,661
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15722853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CommeCiCommeCa/pseuds/CommeCiCommeCa
Summary: Keith has always had troubles sleeping and Lance is now there to help





	Sometimes quiet is violent

**Author's Note:**

> Timelines are a mess I didn’t care about in this OS. I didn’t care how long their journey has actually taken and mostly, how long Keith was gone with the Blade, in this OS, let’s say Keith didn’t leave and never became the Black Paladin, alright ? This OS is too short for it to matter and I didn’t need a Keith leaving the team so Lance could stop feeling like the seventh wheel (cause being the sixth wheel is so much better). 
> 
> The title comes from the masterpiece that is Car Radio by twenty øne piløts and I recommend it to everyone.
> 
> I have myself lots of troubles sleeping so I’m sorry if some of you don’t feel like Keith in this OS, it’s just how I feel myself.
> 
> And thanks to Space_And_Stars for correcting this!

Shiro liked to see the Castle of Lions as his new home. His, his fellow Paladins' and the two Alteans’ home.

The Castle was the one place they all could get back to after a difficult battle or a boring ambassador trip. 

(although Shiro would not say no to Adam’s arms) 

If they weren’t on a mission, they were in the Castle. Either training on the deck, hanging in the lounge or on the main deck. Or they were simply in their room.   
Everyone had been assigned to a similar kind of room at the beginning of their Voltron journey and each Paladin had decorated their own with what they had, which   
was not a lot. 

Lance had transformed his into a little spa, each of his products he had found God knows where was put on a little chest of drawers. There were also a bunch of candles at random places of the room. Drawings made from kids whose planet had been saved by Voltron, had been put onto the walls, so the whole room felt like a gay pride lair mixed with a spa. Stars had been sticked upon the bed too, which could be kinda childish but then again, it was Lance’s room after all. 

Hunk’s room felt nice, he had chosen to display some related food items he had found on some planets they had visited. It was not overdecorated as Lance’s but you could definitely understand what type of a person Hunk was, the type who was warm and save. And Shiro could swear the rock aside the bed came from the Balmera. It was a nice room according to him. 

Shiro couldn’t say the same thing for Pidge’s. It appeared that she was a bit of a hoarder but was too lazy to get any furniture so everything was left on the floor until she would hurt herself by walking on something in the middle of the night. After that kind of accident, she will simply take the said object and leave it somewhere else in the Castle to whine two days later ‘cause she couldn’t find it thanks to Coran who didn’t understand her ‘’organized mess’’. 

Even Shiro had made some kind of effort, even though he didn’t spend half as much time in his room as he told the others, he preferred to stay with the Black Lion. But still, he insisted to put some kids drawings (not near as much as Lance though) on the walls to remind him that Voltron was a sign of hope across the universe.

It was safe to say that Keith’s room was rather… bare. The only thing that had changed since the young man started living in the Castle of Lions was the occasional red jacket hanging on the wall. Shiro had never seen the bed undone, a remnant of Keith’s time in both foster homes and the Garrison, probably. If Shiro didn’t make sure the kid got enough sleep, he would swear he never even slept in the room. 

(Coran was very happy with that, by the way.) 

EIGHT MONTHS EARLIER 

‘’Having trouble concentrating today, Mullet Man ? Do I distract you by standing in the same room as you ? Am I that awesome ?’’

Honestly, Keith didn’t even notice Lance had entered the training room. 

‘’What do you mean by that ?’’

‘’I’m too awesome for you so-‘’

‘’Not that, jerk. What do you mean, ‘’I’m not concentrated’’ ? I still won against the Gladiator, didn’t I ?’’

‘’Of course you won,’’, Lance sighs, ‘’you never lose against this damn piece of chunk.’’

‘’So you do admit I always win ?’’, Keith smirked proudly. 

‘’I’ll admit that you always win against the Gladiator, I clearly won that falling blind bonding exercise and you know it ! I bet we could ask Coran for some footage and we will see who really won !’’ 

‘’Whatever, Lance. Did you come up here just to tease me with something you aren’t sure you won ?’’

Keith had always found the expression Lance would have when he was trying to look like he was pouting… kinda adorable he had to admit.

‘’Well, I originally came here to hide from Hunk but-‘’

‘’Why do you need to hide from him ?’’,Keith frowned. 

Hell, if even Hunk wasn’t safe anymore, the world was doomed. 

‘’Because we’re playing hide and seek, duh. But now that I saw the disaster that you trying to defeat the Gladiator, I might as well train with you.’’

‘’I still won that fight, you do know that, right ? And are you implying that you can’t beat me when I’m not exhausted ?’’

And damn, Lance’s face looked cute in red. 

‘’I did not ! That’s it, you lost your chance to train with me, I hope you’re happy now, Keith.’’ 

‘’’Kay. Your loss.’’ 

‘’My loss ?’’ 

‘’It would have been fun to see if you could beat me when I haven’t slept more than 5 hours in a week, yeah.’’ 

Maybe he shouldn’t have said that. Maybe it’s not the kind of stuff you should tell your rival. It’s more like the kind of stuff you say to Shiro when you fell like you need to be lectured. 

But is it his fault if it’s easier for him to confine in Lance rather than Shiro ? And who said Keith actually wanted to be Lance’s enemy ? He had never spoken to him before Lance came in and said they were rivals. And of course, he had to actually enjoy the company of his rival but because he was pretending to be his rival, he couldn’t actually enjoy their time spent together cause they were always bickering.   
It was like they jumped immediately from strangers to enemies while feeling like an old married couple. 

Anyway, Keith could feel the awkwardness in the room. Lance was reeking of it. 

‘‘ Oh. You… You alright ?’’

‘’Yeah. I guess I’m just not used to sleep… you know, in space.’’

‘’Yeah, yeah. I totally get that ! Anyway, I’ll leave you to your training and go back.’’

‘’Didn’t you come here to hide from Hunk ?’’

‘’Oh.’’ Lance froze, ‘’I guess I have to let him win from time to time, right ?’’ 

And so Keith was all alone again. He guessed him and Lance were supposed to stick to the bickering then, not chick flick moments. 

SEVEN MONTHS EARLIER 

‘’Keith ? Keith ? Keiiiiiith ? Keith to Earth ? Quiznak, I guess we’re not supposed to say that anymore ! Pidgeon, what planet are we on already ? Keith ?!’’

‘’What ?’’

‘’You’ve been staring at your goo for at least 6 minutes. Call me weird if you want, but I kinda find it suspicious. Especially when I’m standing by your side. I mean, come on, between your goo and me, you would choose me, right ?’’

‘’Right. I’m sorry about the staring, I guess I’m just a bit tired.’’ 

They hadn’t spoken about that topic since last time. Actually, they hadn’t spoken much at all. No chick flick moments, only bickering for nothing. It was better that way. 

‘’Still not used to sleeping in a 10 600 year old castleship in space, uh ?’’ 

‘’I guess. It’s not like I always had the perfect night routine on Earth anyway.’’ 

‘’Oh.’’ 

There it was again. Keith could see Lance was looking at him with concern, he could see that he cared about him but there was this forced rivalry between the two of them who only brought awkwardness to the situation.

‘’Well’’,Lance continued, ‘’I guess I’ll better leave you to your goo then. Just don’t go   
deeply staring at it again, it was kinda creepy.’’

‘’Whatever, Lance.’’

Yeah. It was better this way. 

SIX MONTHS EARLIER.

‘’You come here often ?’’

If a stranger saw this, they would think Lance was flirting with Keith because he was interested in him. But Keith knew him better and knew he was faking flirting with him continually to make him feel embarrassed. The perks of having a rival, right ? 

‘’When I’m really desperate to sleep I guess.’’

They were in space, of course they could see the stars from pretty much anywhere. But there was something particular with the concept of actually having a certain place to come and see the stars at night. 

‘’When I was younger,’’, Keith continued before Lance could say anything, ‘’my father used to take me to see the stars from time to time, especially in August, when we could see the constellation of the Lion the best.’’

He would’ve thought Lance would already have left, like he did every time they had a conversation deeper than the ‘’I win, no I win’’ type of conversation. But, at his surprise, the boy had stayed. In fact, he had even moved closer to Keith, joining him on the ground, sat by his side, on the edge of the floor, right in front of the big window.  

‘’He told me that if I wanted to talk to my mother, all I had to do was to choose a specific star and talk to it. I chose Denebola, the Lion’s beta and second brightest star, the tail. He used to tell me my mother had to go upon the stars, but she didn’t want to.’’

He was expecting Lance to go away any second but he seemed like he was intending to stay here until Keith had finished his story. 

‘’Of course, I thought it was just a shitty thing everyone told to kids who had lost a parent, I never knew what he actually meant by 'my mother is among the stars' but it felt comforting. To talk to her I mean. Even if it was total bullshit.’’

Lance chuckled, apparently he found it funny when Keith said words he would never say in front of Shiro. God, who told him he was an orphan ? Shiro was more of a mom to him than his actual mother. 

‘’When my father died, I chose Lyncis, the Alpha from the Lynx constellation. I was old enough to know that this star bullshit was… shit but weirdly enough, it kept me at ease when I was too frightened or sad to sleep, I would either sneak to the roof or watch them through the window.’’

He knew Lance would more than likely tease him about this, but he didn’t care. 

‘’I guess that’s why I decided to say yes to Shiro when he wanted me to join the Garrison. I guess the kid in me just wanted to go back to his parents.’’

‘’I never would have thought you had a kid in you, Kogane.’’

‘’Oh shut up,,’’ he chuckled, ‘’ at least I can actually be mature when I need to, at least.’’ 

‘’At least, I didn’t join the Garrison to go to the stars because I thought my mom was among them !’’ 

And here it goes. He would never let go of this and Keith knew it. 

‘’Why did you then ?’’ 

Lance stopped watching the stars and shifted his head to see Keith, who was now staring at him. 

‘’I guess I just wanted to prove my parents that I was worthy. That I was maybe not as intelligent as Marco or as gifted in music as Veronica and I wasn’t nearly as perfect as Luis so I thought I might show them what I could do. Probably a middle child syndrome type of thing.’’

‘’I don’t think you are.’’

‘’Am what ?’’ 

‘’Not intelligent. You might have gotten into the Garrison to show off, but you still got in.’’

‘’Yeah, as a cargo pilot. Great. I could see the disappointment in their eyes when I didn’t make it into the fighter class.’’

‘’You still got in eventually.’’

‘’Yeah, only because you punched Iverson in the face.’’

‘’So worth it.’’

Lance bursted out into a laugh.

It felt nice. Lance’s honest laugh, a kinda deep conversation and no bickering. 

‘’It’s a pretty good advice your father gave you, you know.’’ 

‘’I bet he never thought I would once go so far into space that I won’t be able to see the Leo constellation.’’

‘’I bet he would be proud of you though. You’ve come a long way from Texas, Keith. Except for that mullet of yours, you could’ve let it with the cows.’’

‘’I bet yours are too.’’

‘’What ?! I don’t have an awful mullet, thank you.’’

‘’I meant your parents. I bet they are proud of you too. You are a Defender of the Universe, it doesn’t matter how many doctorates your brother has, how many concerts your sister does or how nicely your brother folds napkins when you have guests over. At the end of the day, you’re part of the reason they’re still alive and free.’’

‘’Oh.’’ 

But this time, it wasn’t a sign of awkwardness. 

‘’You know, I’m sure the advice my father gave me could work for you too.’’

‘’What do you mean ?’’

‘’I know you miss your family. You just have to pick a star and talk to them through it.’’

‘’Yeah I guess I can. Thanks, Keith.’’

He wasn’t sure if it was like that at the beginning of their conversation, but Keith could feel Lance’s heat through his sleeve, he hadn’t realized they were that close.   
But he didn’t mind being this close to Lance. It was nice even. And the other boy didn’t seem to be bothered either. 

The two of them kept stargazing in silence for quite a long time, thoughts lost among the stars, among their families. And before he knew it, Keith’s sleepy head rested on Lance’s shoulder. 

He woke up alone on the couch three hours laters. 

FIVE MONTHS EARLIER

They didn’t speak about that night. They had returned to the continual bickering because they were rivals and that’s what rivals did, right ? It’s not like they spent a lot   
of time together. 

Keith had spent a lot of nights watching the stars, secretly hoping that maybe, Lance would join him so they could have another decent conversation. But Lance never did. 

‘’Why can’t you sleep like a normal person ?’’ 

They were alone in the Castle. The others had left for Olkari, a coalition thing. Lance and Keith had to keep the Castle since no one saw the point in taking them if they were just going to bicker there. 

‘’You complain that you can’t sleep enough but what keeps you from sleeping ?’’

And them being alone meant no forced bickering. 

‘’Being alone with my thoughts I guess. Sometimes quiet is violent so I tend to keep myself awake until my body’s too exhausted and collapses on its own. And since I tend to have nightmares, I’m lucky to sleep four hours straight.’’

‘’Dude, how can you survive like this ? I need my daily eight hours of sleep if I want my body to keep up with my inner beauty.’’

‘’The perks of being half Galra, maybe ? I’ve been like this for most of my life anyway.’’

‘’You know, my brother Luis, back when he was five, he used to be like that too. Not half Galra, but he had troubles sleeping too, though not as severe like you.’’

‘’Luis is not so perfect now, huh ?’’ 

It was the first time they mentioned that night’s conversation.

‘’Yeah I guess. He used to keep himself awake at least a night per week by eating as much candies he could without my mum noticing. Of course, he couldn’t resist to sleep at least two hours but I guarantee you, he would put himself to bed the next day by 7PM and sleep until 8AM.’’

 

‘’That’s a great story, Lance. And did he have nightmares too ? I bet five year olds had nightmares about their toys coming to life.’’ 

‘’A) rude, Keith. B) Toy Story is great, it’s not Disney’s fault if you got a shitty childhood and C) I don’t think he ever got nightmares.’’ 

‘’Then thank you for this useless but lovely story, Lance.’’

Being alone with Lance didn’t prevent him from sarcasm though.

‘’I used to.’’

That’s not what Keith was expecting. 

‘’Well, I haven’t been through all of your drama but they were still nightmares. I bet yours are like a thousand times worse than mine, but a nightmare is a nightmare, right ?’’

He used to think Lance had always had it easy. 

‘’And what did you do when… when you had a nightmare ?’’

‘’I went to sleep with my parents but it’s not really an option for you, unless if you want to try with Shiro.’’

‘’I think I prefer having nightmares, thanks.’’ 

‘’Or you could… you know… try with me.’’

He must say red looked really ice on Lance’s face. But Keith guessed the idea of sleeping with Lance McClain got him at least as red as the other one. 

‘’Or not ! It was just an idea, a dumb, stupid and shitty idea so just forget about it okay ? If you need anything, I’m gonna go… uh… talk with Blue.’’

He stood up and started heading towards the door. 

But damn, the idea of sleeping with him sounded so good. 

‘’Lance !’’, he shouted, starting to walk towards him. 

‘’Yeah ?’’

Had these eyes always been so blue ? 

‘’You know, the others won’t be there for at least another two days, so we could go and sleep in the Royal Quarters of the ship, they have a bigger bed. We could see if sleeping next to someone helps without having to sleep in such a small bed.’’ 

‘’Okay !’’, Lance smiled wildly, ‘’A sleepover it is then ! Oh, Hunk is gonna be so jealous if he ever found out we had a sleepover without him. But we gotta do it again with him because I assure you that Hunk is like the best cuddler ever ! He’s so safe and warm, you know ?’’

Keith was starting to feel like he would regret this at some point. But he didn’t care. 

(a few hours later) 

‘’And of course, Lance, you sleep without a shirt.’’

‘’What ? It’s not my fault if I’m hot as a radiator while I sleep. Being as hot as me doesn’t only come with benefits.’’

Keith sighed even though he knew he was happy to see Lance without a shirt. 

(although he would never say that out loud) 

‘’So how do you wanna do this ?’’, Keith asked, hesitant. 

‘’I sleep on the right, obviously, the best side, and you sleep on the left. That way, no touching, just pure sleep.’’

‘’And what if our feet touch ?’’ 

‘’If our feet touch, we fuck obviously.’’

Not the answer he was expecting.

(not that he minded) 

But before he could say anything, Lance bursted into a laugh. 

‘’Oh my God, Keith, you really have no general culture. If our feet touch, it depends on the warmth of your feet. If they are warm, I might welcome them but if they are cold, you just take them back ‘cause there’s no way I sleep with cold feet against   
mine.’’

‘’Oh.’’

‘’Anyway, I wasn’t kidding about my sleeping beauty and if your case is a lost one, I cannot stand losing beauty to chat with you.’’

Keith was still standing on the edge of the enormous bed as Lance was already laying on his side of the bed, all tucked in. 

‘’No wonder you can’t sleep properly if you don’t even lay down. You comin’ or what ?’’ 

And so Keith went to lay down himself. Thanks to the size of the bed, there was a good meter of distance between the two of them. 

‘’Well, good night Keith.’’

‘’Goodnight, Lance. And thanks.’’

‘’No problem.’’ 

It was weird at first, trying to fall asleep with someone in the same bed as his, he couldn’t change his position without disturbing Lance and God knew Lance wouldn’t be happy if he didn’t get his beauty sleep. 

(and Keith didn’t want to alter Lance’s beauty after all)

But after a few minutes, it actually felt nice to hear someone else’s breath, it was something Keith could hang onto rather than on his thoughts. Lance’s breath had become steadier and a bit deeper, which suggested to Keith that he had fallen asleep. 

Quickly after Lance, Keith fell asleep. 

(quickly meaning after an hour for him. But it was nice to hear Lance’s breath.) 

Weirdly enough, Lance’s advice kinda worked. Keith woke up approximatively six hours later, which was the double of what he usually got. And a night of sleep felt so much better without any nightmares. 

Lance was still asleep, he had moved a little bit more onto the middle of the mattress, onto his stomach, his arms wrapped around the pillow, a little bit of drool on it, which Keith found adorable. 

He, himself was on his stomach, his own hair must be a mess, he felt thankful that Lance was still asleep, ‘cause he knew he would make fun of him for that. He had also moved a little bit towards the center during the night, so his and Lance’s shoulder leaned against each other’s and… their feet touch, which made Keith   
smile. 

It was a good night of sleep and a nice way to start the day, he must add. 

Although he had only said the first part to Lance once he was awake.

 

‘’I’m just happy I could help you, dude. Plus, you know, if I gotta see you everyday, you might as well not have bags under your eyes.’’

‘’Anyway, I just wanted to thank you for this night, we don’t have to make a big deal out of it.’’

‘’Do you wanna do it again ?’’,Lance asked, probably a little bit too eagerly to his own taste, judging by his face after he had said it. ‘’I mean, they’re not coming back until tomorrow morning so we have another night with the Castle all for ourselves and you are definitely less of an asshole when you’re sleeping well so I wouldn’t mind to sleep in the same big bed as you again if it’s all it takes for you to sleep nicely once more.’’

‘’Oh. Sure ? One last night won’t hurt I guess.’’ 

‘’Alright ! Then we owe Hunk two sleepovers, which means two batches of cookies !’’

They slept next to each other once more before they others came back and they didn’t speak of it again. 

Well, except when they asked Hunk to make cookies for their two movie nights.

FOUR MONTHS EARLIER

Shiro had just lectured Keith because he had found out how much (or little in this case) he actually slept. Something in the lines of ‘’not healthy’’, ‘’not safe for you or the team’’ and ‘’you better sleep at least six hours this night, young man’’. 

Him and Lance were the only ones left in the lounge after that. Hunk, Pidge and Coran had gone to do something to do with the engine, Allura was practicing and Shiro was probably complaining to the Black Lion about Keith and how he would be the death of him. 

‘’You…’’, Lance started,’’you still got nightmares then ?’’

‘’Yeah.’’, the other sighed, ‘’Two nights with you weren’t enough to make them   
disappear forever, how surprising.’’

‘’Oh.’’

But it wasn’t an ‘’oh’’ of awkwardness, more like an ‘’oh’’ of pity towards someone stupid enough not to get enough sleep to correctly function. 

‘’If you want,’’, he continued, ‘’we could do it again. This night at least, so Shiro could be happy you got six hours of sleep tomorrow morning. Neither of us wants to live through his wrath, right ?’’ 

 

‘’But Coran would never let us use one ‘’room worthy of Groggery the Infirm’’ anytime soon.’’

‘’We could always do it in my bed. It’s small but it’s for one night only and I really don’t want to see Shiro explode. Unless if you don’t want to, which would be totally okay, by the way, I was just trying to help a fellow Paladin, you know ?’’ 

‘’No, I’ll…’’, Keith mildly smiled, ‘’I accept your offer, thank you.’’

Lance returned him the smile. 

‘’Great ! Just come to my room for… around 10 PM ? Does it work for you ?’’

‘’It’ll be perfect, thanks.’’

‘’You're welcome, mullet man.’’ 

Keith didn’t really know when they had started to stop this rivalry thing between the two of them, but he wasn’t complaining about it. It felt nice to be friends with Lance.

(a few hours later) 

Keith felt nervous. He knew there was nothing to be nervous for, especially since it was Lance who suggested this and made sure Keith said yes but still, he was anxious to knock on Lance’s door. 

‘’Come on, Keith. You’ve already affronted Zarkon himself, what’s Lance McClain in comparison ?’’, he murmured to himself.

And so he knocked. 

Maybe Lance was waiting for him on the other side because it felt like only a second had passed when the door was opened. 

Lance was still in his blue robe with his Blue Lion slippers that he loved so much. 

‘’And you came ! I was starting to think you won’t show up, like if the thought of sleeping in my bed was too scary for you.’’

‘’It’s 10:04 PM, Lance. And Shiro is so much more terrifying than you. That’s the only reason I accepted.’’

Yeah. The only reason. 

‘’Whatever, you’re late. Anyway, mi case es tu casa !’’

 

Keith had never actually paid attention to his room, thinking it was just the same as his own. And if the base was the same, Lance had actually put some of his soul into the room with some kids’ drawings, candles and a display a skincare products.

 

‘’You ready to sleep now ?’’, Lance asked. ‘’Someone insisted a little too much on the training this afternoon and I’m officially dead.’’

‘’Yeah, I’m ready.’’

The bed was much smaller this time, forcing the two of them to be back to back, which Keith didn’t mind. Lance on the right side of the bed, Keith on the left one. Lance really was like a radiator. His own personal radiator. 

‘’Goodnight, Keith.’’

‘’Goodnight, Lance.’’

This time, Keith didn’t get to hear Lance’s steady breath, he fell asleep pretty quickly, even for a person with normal sleeping habits. Lance’s heat coming from his back felt nice.

Keith woke roundly eight hours after that, having a feeling of numbness in his right forearm. 

He opened his eyes to see Lance sleeping on his left side, head facing Keith, crushing his right arm. His left hand is laying on Lance’s hip. It felt nice. It felt safe and warm. Keith felt good. 

Too afraid to wake Lance up by moving his arm, he decided to simply stay there, contemplating the boy next to him. He had never really had the chance to see him form so close for such a long time, he had never seen the little scar he had on his right temple, surely a reminder of a childhood’s fall, he was sure Lance had had a ton of those.

He had never noticed he actually had some freckles. Not a lot and they were blending pretty well with his caramel skin, but they were there. 

Lance, apparently, had sweated a bit during the night, hence the slightly wet hair on his neck, making them curl up a bit, which Keith found purely adorable. 

He had also never paid attention about how appetizing his lips were, probably because of all the care he brought to them. 

Keith had always known Lance was… not ugly. He had eyes. But he had never taken the time to see how beautiful he was. 

It was definitely a sight he could get used to wake up to.

(a few hours later)

‘’So,’’, Lance started, ’’Shiro looked happy.’’

‘’I guess he was, yeah. Thanks to you.’’

‘’Don’t mention him’’, he smiled shyly, ‘’you know, I’ve been thinking…’’ 

‘’Really ? Doesn’t really seem like you.’’

Maybe they were sleeping in the same bed from time to time, but they were still rivals, right ? Gotta live up to it.  

‘’Oh, shut up, Mullet. Shiro looked happy this morning but you and I both know that he’ll just lecture you again next week once you’re back to your terrible night routine. And Shiro can really be a pain in the ass during Voltron Time when he’s angry and or worried about one of us so I was thinking then, for the sake of the whole team and the whole universe, maybe we could just simply sleep together… every night. Or every other night, I don’t really know. But it has become pretty clear that you can’t survive without your own personal Teddy Bear and radiator, right ?’’

‘’Right.’’ Keith couldn’t help it, he was smiling wildly. 

‘’Is that a yes, then ?’’

‘’Yes.’’

‘’Great, great.’’ Lance seemed kinda relieved ‘’Then I’ll see you at 10PM and if you’re late because you were training or whatever, you can suck it up and go sleep alone, alright ? My beauty sleep is crucial, you hear me, Kogane ? No pity.’’

‘’No pity.’’ 

And they chuckled, both blushing at the same time.

THREE MONTHS EARLIER

Keith couldn’t get used to the sight of Lance first thing when he woke up. 

During the whole month, he had slept at least six hours per night, except once when Lance didn’t let him enter because he was five minutes late ‘cause of his training. And Lance felt like crap for it when he saw the bags under Keith’s eyes the next day. 

After a couple of weeks, Lance had found some kind of glue to stick some stars they had made out of paper, they chose to replicate the Lynx constellation so they could spend less time in the observatory.

They would always fall asleep back to back and wake up tangled, Keith had lost count of the times his feet had touched Lance’s. 

Keith felt nice. Lance was safe and warm to him. 

PRESENT DAY

Shiro had known Keith for more than three years now and he couldn’t believe that he hadn’t seen the bags under the kid’s eyes in over three months, he had actually gotten use to those, like if they were a part of him.

Keith looked happy. Happier, at least. And he had cut some of his useless bickering with Lance and had started to spend more time with the boy, they actually laughed with each other now. 

As a friend, Shiro simply felt happy for Keith. 

As a mentor/brother/mother/space dad, he felt also concerned.

‘’Keith ? Do you have a minute, please ?’’

He had been training with the Gladiator. If his performance had always been great, he was even better now.

‘’Of course, Shiro. Is something wrong ?’’

‘’No, not at all’’, he chuckled, ‘’it’s just that I cant’ help to notice that you’ve been much better at the whole sleeping stuff lately and I just wanted to ask you what changed ?’’

He could see Keith was about to feel embarrassed. 

‘’So,’’, he continued, ‘’I asked Coran, if he gave you some kind of medicine to help but he told me he didn’t so I may have started to spy on you, just to make sure you didn’t do anything weird to help you to sleep.’’

‘’And… what did you find ?’’

‘’I found out that you didn’t spend as much time in the observatory than you used to. I thought it meant you had stopped stargazing so much. One night, I went there and I found you. With Lance. It felt weird to see you two just speaking, not simply shouting at each other. But I was even more surprised when Lance came back to his room. With you. I waited a good twenty minutes but you didn’t come out so I guess you stayed the night with him. And I bet he’s the reason you aren’t exhausted all the time anymore, am I right ? 

And in three years, he had never seen Keith blush like that. And he had seen Keith confessing to him he was gay.

‘’It’s not what you’re thinking, Shiro !’’

‘’You sure, because from what I’ve gathered…’’

‘’All we do is sleep, nothing more ! As friends !’’

‘’In the same room ? What’s wrong with yours ?’’ 

He couldn’t help but put his ‘’annoying big brother’’ smirk on. 

‘’I told Lance I had nightmares and he told me he used to sleep with his parents when he was younger because sleeping alongside someone else made his nightmares disappear ! We gave it a shot and it worked, one day he decided that the less tired I was, the better Voltron could fight and therefore, the safer the universe was so the best thing to do was for me to sleep with someone and Lance was there. That’s it. He’s just being a good friend and a good Paladin’’

‘’So… just a friend ?’’

Oh, Shiro was enjoying this way too much. 

‘’Yeah. Just a friend. We go to bed, we sleep, we wake up.’’

‘’And ?’’ 

‘’And that’s it. Just a very friendly gesture.’’

‘’And ?’’

‘’Just two friends sleeping in the same bed. 

‘’And ?’’

‘’And I’m very happy with our arrangement because Lance feels safe and warm, okay ?’’

‘’And ?’’

And finally, Keith gave up. 

‘’And I might like him, alright ? You happy, now ?’’, he said, crossing his arms.

‘’Very happy. So what’s next ?’’

‘’What do you mean ?’, Keith frowned. 

‘’When are you going to tell him.’’

‘’How about never, Shiro ? If he ever found out, it’s gonna become weird and I won’t be able to sleep with him anymore. I can’t risk that for a stupid crush.’’

‘’Aren’t you curious about what might actually happen if it was mutual, though ?’’

‘’Of course I am ! But I’m also sure that it isn’t, so case closed.’’

‘’How can you know it’s not mutual ? I’m pretty sure not a lot of friends would do all he does for you Keith. Just saying.’’

The young boy sighed.

‘’You won’t let go of me until I tell him, right ?’’

‘’You got it, little brother.’’

Shiro had to remind himself to thank Lance later for making Keith so happy.

**Author's Note:**

> Btw, I inspired myself for Keith ? Like I haven’t slept more than 3 hours straight in July (I also slept like less than half the nights in July) and let me tell you, I felt like a vegetable. Also, sleeping 3 hours for people like me feels like a 8 hours long sleep for others I guess. And no sleep in five nights is okay. 6 hours is like 12 hours and it’s extremely rare and I’m so happy when it happens. 8 hours is a miracle. 
> 
> #WelcomeToMyLife
> 
> Also, I lost my grandfather in July (hence the lack of sleep) and I go stargazing almost every night to speak to him. Of course, I suck so I can’t just chose such stars as Keith so I chose Vegan because it's like the 5th brightest star right now.
> 
> #WelcomeToMyShittyLife
> 
> (yeah, I did write this while exhausted, hence the shitness)
> 
> The ‘’if our feet touch, we fuck obviously’’ is inspired from a Klance fanart I once saw made by I don’t know who but it’s itself inspired by PeepShow I believe.
> 
> Anyway, I hope that you enjoyed this and if you want to talk to me (about VLD or sleeping troubles), feel free to.


End file.
